The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-03-01

How He Can Increase His Income without
Great Expenditure OF Labor.

Inc uiIIlcultl IS more imaginary than
real. but that makes no difference.
! The result IL the same. The small
| farmer with few COWS can not see
hi way clear always To purchase u
thoroughbred bull. 81 he goes on year
after year breeding poor stock to his
financial injury. There is only one
/ way to look at this matter, and that is
TO consider whether cattle that are
worth 300 head are not much better
than those that are worth not more
than half that amount; whether Il COW
that will produce two or three times
more milk and butter than the one We
have is not very desirable; and if these
questions are answered in the afliTma-
tive. and of course they must be. the
question arises whether Il thoroughbred
bull will not soon pay for himself, and
leave handsome profit, by producing
such stock. Ii often seems tn be- for
gotten that there are low-priced
thoroughbreds. 1t would seem US IL
many never got it into their heads that
there are bulls sold under the thoIt-
sands, and indeed young bulls under
the hundreds. They may not he and
are not a. desirable rs some famous
bull whose reputation Is sufficiently es-
tablished 90 make him a very highly
desirable sire. But they are good
bulls. and when we can not get the
very hest, we had better take what we
can get. Then there is still another
view of the matter. A bull of great
reputation might never be able to pay
for himself upon small farm. while
a bull of less reputation, though equal
~ rs good. would. The reputation of
the animal often makes him exceeding
~ valuable ut the head of profession
al breeders herd. though really he
may not he any better than a lower
priced animal. The owner of few
cows. may not want, and probably
would not want, to advertise himself
through the possession of a noted bull.
He probably would simply desire TO
improve his stock for his own Use.
Now. such man will ordinarily find
no difficulty in securing a bull within
his means, and would find the purchase
very profitable. At almost every sale
animals are knocked off ut prices which
even the opponents of high prices
would call reasonable. Generally the
sales under one hundred dollars are
not reported, but there are MANY such
sales.
But it is the duty of the farmer. his
duty to himself. to improve his cattle
by some means. The farmer is con-
Quoting his business To make money.
and if he does the best he can he does
not make more than he can convent
emily take care of. But if he neglects
the profits from Stock-raising he throws
away the most profitable branch of his
business. Therefore. the first thing
that faImer whose stock is below the
standard should do is To breed it up.
If he has the means to buy thorough
bred bull. buy il. Ii can not he in
vested To better advantage. If he can
not buy thoroughbred. get grade.
That will likely prove to be- gre;it
Improvement upon common stock. But
very simple andeasy way 10y which u
thoroughbred bull can be procured Is
for the farmers of neighborhoOd to-
club together and get one. A good
animal could thus be got Mt very
small individual expense. and the re-
suits would he grand. If men can be
brought TO consider this matter as its
Importance demands we shall not be so
slow in breeding up our cattle, and as
rapidly rs we seem to be doing this,
the entire country together. we are
progressing slowly In some sections
of the country nothing is found but
scrub stock. though there NAV he
abundant evidence of general enter
prise and thrift i'm other directions. We
remember few years ago of riding
through one of the most beautiful sec
tons of country we ever saw Ii was
in the East, The houses bOrdered on
the elegant; barns were large; fences
good; crops luNurIant. Every thing in
dictated good farming except the cattle,
In a ride of miles we did not see a herd
of cattle that we would hardly take for
gift. The thought that came to us
was. it is astonishing that men who
give so much evidence of general enter
prise should utterly neglect this i'm
,or-tant and prnfitahIe branch IF tha
farm. Now. If we should have gone to
these farmers and said we can tell you
how 20 double your profits on your corn
crop they would have listened eagerly.
and If whit we said was reasonable,
they would have adopted it. Yet we
could havet told them how to double and
qlradruple their income from the cattle
yard. Strange as it may seem, how
ever. though we could have given In
disputable evidence that our assurances
in that respect were we'll founded,